Football

Work to do yet, insists Brian Dooher as Tyrone take massive step towards safety and leave Monaghan on the brink

Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher have guided Tyrone to back-to-back wins. Pic Philip Walsh.
Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher have guided Tyrone to back-to-back wins. Pic Philip Walsh. Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher have guided Tyrone to back-to-back wins. Pic Philip Walsh.

Allianz National Football League Division One: Monaghan 0-13 Tyrone 2-15

TYRONE joint-manager Brian Dooher insists there is still hard work to done but his team took a massive step towards safety with an eight-point victory over survival-specialists Monaghan at Clones.

Goals from Peter Harte (a penalty) and Cormac Quinn had the Red Hands ahead at the break and Monaghan never looked like overhauling them after red cards for Jack McCarron and Killian Lavelle.

The result means that a draw against Armagh in Omagh next Sunday will keep Tyrone afloat in the top flight while Monaghan, who have cheated relegation year after year, need to beat Mayo in Castlebar and hope other results go their way.

“We're going out next week to play Armagh and we'll prepare for it, we know they're probably the most improved team of the last couple of years in Ireland,” said Dooher.

“I'd even say they could've been in the All-Ireland final last year, unlucky not to be, they had some great performances in the League at the start and probably didn't get the result. They probably should've won last night (against Galway) and didn’t get the result but they're a formidable outfit and we'll have our work cut out next week.

“Defensively we were fairly solid, it's something to build on. We've a lot of work to do yet, we're hopefully going in the right direction but we've a big game against Armagh next week and I feel they're one of the best teams in Division One.”

The victory at Clones means that Tyrone have clinched back-to-back wins and have moved up to joint third in the table and leapfrogged Armagh in the process.

“Two or three weeks ago things weren't looking good,” added Dooher.

“We still have a bit of work to do yet. Things are definitely improving but it needs a bit more yet. It's good to have two points, that's we came here for and thankfully we're coming home with it.

2023 Allianz Football League: Fixtures, results and tables

“We lost our structure and composure a bit which is probably the disappointing bit. But it's something we have to learn from and adapt to. Again, looking at how we can deal with things like that in a better way. But the boys came through it rightly and settled down again in the last 10 minutes and started playing a bit of football. The conditions got slippy and greasy as well in the end up which contributed to the game as well.

“The intensity was good against Kerry, it probably could've been better today. It was good in parts, just not consistent throughout the match. In the first half we worked hard and got a couple of great scores, but we gave away too many frees - Monaghan got seven of their first eight scores from frees. “With any team nowadays when you give points away in a scoring position it's nearly criminal.”

Monaghan manager Vinny Corey declined request for post-match interviews. His side survived on frees and marks and scored just once from play. Meanwhile, Tyrone had 10 different scorers and moved the ball well in difficult conditions.

“It's good we got the scores and a range of scores is very important too, I probably would have liked a few more,” said Dooher.

“I thought some of our shooting was rash and we didn't convert some reasonable opportunities but we did get two goals which we hadn't been converting earlier in the year which is the upside of it.”